Inedible
by mother-zombie
Summary: New food is being served in all the town's restaurants and cafeterias, and the more people eat it the stranger they act! It's up to Uncle Grandpa, his RV crew, and some of the children he has significantly helped to solve the mysteries behind the strange new foods and save the city!
1. Chapter 1

"What do you mean you're all out of Triple Chocolate?" a sandy-haired male screeched the question at the employee on the other side of the case. The employee sighed, shaking his head.

"I told you for the 50th time, sir, there is no more Triple Chocolate. There's no more anything! There's only the new flavors listed here!" the acne-faced teenaged boy pointed to the new list. Every flavor that used to be on that list was crossed off and replaced with 3 different flavors. The 3 flavors were "WHEET CRAEM", "DUNGBOO", and "PINK GLOBS".

"No! Unacceptable! This is insane! You guys had over 100 flavors why the hell did you get rid of all of them? Especially Triple Chocolate? What the hell!" the angry sunglasses-clad male slammed his fists against the plexiglass that once contained a whole variety of ice cream flavors.

"I agree, but there's nothing I can do! I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you don't stop. You've been a problem customer for as long as we've known you and you're being no exception today" the frustrated teenaged boy sighed.

"Where the HELL is your manager?" the customer screeched the question angrily. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah yeah, World Famous Pizza Steve the Mega Celebrity!" the teenaged employee rolled his eyes before retreating to the back. After a few minutes the employee came out with the manager. Though, there was something strange about the manager. The manager had a distant gaze, his eyes imitating the kind of position you'd see googly eyes from a craft store take. He was bobbing his head slightly like a turkey as he looked at the self-proclaimed celebrity on the other side of the counter.

"How help?" asked the manager, his voice a bit off.

"What kind of business are you running here? What happened to your flavor selection?" Pizza Steve angrily rattled off the questions, stomping his foot and putting crossing his arms.

"We replace with superior flavor!" the manager responded.

"Uh, no offense," the sandy-haired male began to speak in a sarcastic manner. "but, uhhhmm, none of those 'new' flavors sound appetizing. I want Triple Chocolate back!"

"Ah!" the manager put his finger up in the air before walking to the other end of the counter. He grabbed a cone and an ice cream scooper and began to dig out of a container. Pizza Steve smirked, thinking that they were finally going to fulfill his request on giving him Triple Chocolate ice cream. The manager came back and held the cone out in front of him, motioning for Steve to take it. "Triple Chocolate dead! Try Dungboo! Much better!"

Steve looked at the cone in disgust. The "ice cream" didn't even look like ice cream, rather, it looked like someone took dog poo off the side of the road and plopped it into the cone. It even smelled like it, too.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Steve gave out a frustrated chuckle.

"No it food! V good food yee!" the manager bobbed his head more.

"That is clearly fecal matter you put on that cone, sir" Steve pointed to the cone. "I am not eating that."

"No it good! Trust!" the manager insisted.

"No, I refuse!" Steve waved his hands as if to shoo him away.

"No please, trust!" the manager brought the cone closer to him.

Immediately, Steve smacked the manager's hand with a loud yell.

"I SAID NO!" Steve was furious as he ripped off his sunglasses. "I want the number to corporate!"

"Here try diff flave" the manager bobbed his head as he went to the other end of the counter again to prepare a new cone. All the while this was happening, the employee stood there, watching everything that was happening with disbelief. He seemed a bit afraid, actually.

"No I don't want to 'try a diff flave'" Pizza Steve mocked the manager. "I want the number to corporate so I can complain! This is absolutely ridiculous and is NO way to treat a mega celebrity!"

The manager came back with the two other flavors. "Here try Pink Glob" the manager held out the cone. It looked like a pile of mini intestines on top of the cone.  
Pizza Steve let out a yelp and backed away. "W-What?! WHAT IS THAT?!" he pointed to the organ matter on the cone.

"It's Pink Glob! V tasty! You like v much, promise!" the manager nodded, offering it to him.

The employee even backed up, feeling a bit afraid.

Steve stood in complete mortified silence staring at the cone.

"T-That's a big pile of intestines from s-some kind of a-animal, sir" Steve finally stammered out.

"Here try Wheet Craem instead! V taste I promise!" he held up the other cone to him. It looked like a big pile of pus.

Steve put his hand up to his mouth, feeling like he was going to puke. He shook his head.  
"This is no way to run an ice cream store!" Steve said in both anger and fear as he quickly ran out.

"Come again v soon! Ah yes~! Goodbye!" the manager waved. The employee stood there dumbfounded. 

* * *

School lunches may seem gross and inedible in general. However, I am pretty sure school lunches were not supposed to be THIS horrendously disgusting. I got in line to get my usual meal, a plain cheese sandwich with a chocolate milk. As soon as I got up to the food counter, I saw it. Instead of the normal mediocre-quality cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets we'd normally get, there was complete raw, bleeding meat chunks and heaps of pink matter slopped in the food trays. The lunch ladies were just plopping it onto our trays like nothin'. It was as if they were completely normal and nothing was wrong with the food.

To me, this was completely unacceptable, so I spoke up.

"What the HELL is THIS?" I asked angrily.

The lunch lady looked at me. There was something different about her. Usually she had a mean glare on her face and a pout on her lips. This time, however, her eyes resembled those sticky googly eyes you'd buy in a craft store and her gaze was different.  
"V good food!" the lunch lady told me. "Trust!"

"I'm pretty sure this is a health violation!" I told her.

"No! V healthy! Trust!" the lunch lady plopped it onto my plate. My eye twitched as it plopped onto my plate. It looked absolutely disgusting! What the hell was this stuff?  
I went to go for a chocolate milk, but all the containers were different. they were all plastic bottles that said "DELISHUSH DRINK SUPLIMENT" on the cover. I decided to take one to see what it was all about.

I walked back to my table and set the tray down. I didn't bother trying to eat it, I just looked at it. It's like they took roadkill off the road and slopped it on the plate. I'm pretty sure I found a tuft of fur in it as I was observing it. After staring at the slop, I pushed the plate away in disgust. "I'm not eating this!" I said out loud before opening my drink. Whatever that "Drink Supliment" was, it smelled AWFUL. It was like I walked into a poorly cleaned public restroom. I gagged and immediately capped the drink.

"What is this stuff?" I heard a voice at my table speak up. I looked up and saw Kev sitting next to Remo and Ned poking at whatever was on his plate.

"Why did they get rid of my nuggies?" I heard a female voice sob. I looked over and saw Nac slumped over next to Kev, not touching the same slop she received from the Lunch Lady.

"This school is so lame!" Remo sighed and pushed it aside.

"Yeah!" Ned pushed his plate away as well.

"Is this some kind of joke or something?" I asked out loud to the rest of my table.  
Everyone shrugged. Ned scratched his red hair and let his bottom tooth jut out more as he thought. "Who knows?" he finally shrugged.

"I want the old cafeteria food back!" Remo sighed as he ran a hair through his blond mullet. "Even if the old food was lame, this new food is even lamer!"

"We should start a riot or a protest" Kev suggested with a grin. Usually his black hair was slicked up into a spiked mohawk, but today he left it down so it ended up looking like that one side shaved one side long hair cut.

Nac had her laptop out, of course. She always blogged during lunch.

"I'm complaining on my blog about how they took away my nuggies!" she hissed. "Maybe I can start a petition to get the nuggies back!"

"How about you, Dennis, what do you think we should do?" Ned asked me.

I thought about it for a moment. "I think Nac is onto something. Maybe we should start a petition." I suggested.

"I'll design the petition!" Kev offered before getting out his sketch book.

"Yeah! I'm sure we'll get like a whole bunch of signatures!" Remo nodded.

"Yeah Yeah!" Ned giggled.

"Yeah! I'll post all over my blogs about it!" Nac nodded as she typed away on her laptop, not even looking up from it for a second.

It seemed like a good idea at first, I mean the principal and board of education should listen to the student body ESPECIALLY if we are unhappy. However, I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen next...


	2. Chapter 2

Pizza Steve slammed the door to the RV. "UNCLE GRANDPAAAA!" he whined out.

Uncle Grandpa did a strange back flip into the room. "What is it my awesome cool guy friend, Pizza Steve?"

"Uncle Granpa, it's a complete utter tragedy!" the sandy-haired male cried out as he slapped his hands against his own face in a dramatic way.

"What happened?!" Uncle Grandpa looked really worried as he put his hands on Pizza Steve's shoulders.

"They took away my Triple Chocolate Ice Cream and replaced it with dog poop, pus, and intestines!" Steve began to cry. His reactions about ice cream were always over-dramatic.

Uncle Grandpa began to cry with him. "How could they? Those monsters!"

Mr. Gus opened the door to the RV and walked in. "Aww hell naw you won't BELIEVE what happened to Taco Tuesdays!" he started to tell Uncle Grandpa as he walked in the door. Uncle Grandpa shushed him in response.

"Quiet, Mr. Gus! Can't you see Pizza Steve is distressed?" Uncle Grandpa gave him a stern look. "Have some compassion!" he began to pat Steve on the back and embrace him in a hug as Steve cried on his shoulder.

"What's wrong with him this time?" Mr. Gus asked, rolling his eyes.

Pizza Steve sobbed and sniffled. "They replaced my favorite ice cream with dog poop, pus, and intestines!"

Mr. Gus's eyes widened. "You're kidding? The same thing happened to the tacos at the Taco Store!"

Pizza Steve and Uncle Grandpa gave him their full attention.

"You know how it's Taco Tuesday today? Well, I went to go get myself a few tacos, and the meat was severely undercooked and bloody! They even replaced the other taco toppings with various other disgusting items! Items like dog poop, intestines, pus, eyeballs, and a bunch of other nasty things! I was so disgusted! I asked for the manager, but the manager just kept insisting I try it! I ended up leaving and not getting anything!" Mr. Gus explained.

"Yeah! The manager at the Ice Cream Store was trying to get me to try the nasty flavors, too!" Pizza Steve told him.

"The worst part about it, is that people were still buying the tacos and eating them!" Mr. Gus confessed, letting out a "yuck" noise.

Pizza Steve and Uncle Grandpa had looks of disgusts on their face.

"Ew what? That's disgusting!" Pizza Steve yelled out, slapping his hands over his mouth.

"I know!" Mr. Gus said with a shudder. "I saw that, and I felt myself getting really sick from the sight! I ran out as fast as I could!" 

* * *

After Kev designed the petition and Nac raised some awareness on social media, we started to travel around the lunchroom to get signatures for our petition. We went over to a table next to us with a bunch of kids.

Before I was able to say anything, I noticed something that completely disturbed me. _The kids were eating the gory slop on their plate._ I let out a loud yelp. "What the hell? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Eating..." one of the kids replied.

"Are you insane?" I tugged on my hair.

"Yeah man, you're eating road kill, dude!" Ned pointed out.

"It tastes like the food we've been eating before" another kid said, continuing to eat.

"So I guess you're happy with the new menu?" Kev asked the kids.

They all nodded and continued to eat, the blood from the meat dribbling down the sides of their mouth.

I was getting sick just watching them. I immediately walked away from the table to go to the next one. Much to my horror, they were eating the food, too. They were even drinking the nasty substance in the milk!

"What the hell?!" I yelled out, storming back to my table and sitting down. I held my head in my hands as I tried to comprehend why my classmates would eat this slop with no problem. The rest of the people from my table sat back down with me.

"This is crazy, man" Ned shook his head.

"Yeah, why are these people so lame?" Remo was twirling his hair.

Nac went back on her laptop. "Austin's out sick today, I need to warn him about all of this! I need to make sure he doesn't eat that slop!"

"We should warn everybody who is out sick today." I said.

"How will we get a count of who's absent today?" Kev asked. "I mean maybe we'll get a few, but we won't know everyone!"

"Just recall in the classes you had earlier who wasn't there, and keep note of who isn't there in the classes you have after lunch! Send them texts or messages warning them about the food! Even if we can't get everyone, we can hopefully gather a big enough group to try to put some sense into these other kids' heads!" I responded.

After I explained my plan, the bell rang and we scrambled to get to our next class. My next class went on like normal, and so did my next class. I wrote down the names of the kids who were absent so I could contact them later, or ask someone else who had their information to contact them for me. My last class, however, I noticed a huge difference in my classmates. I was a bit late to my last class because I had to use the restroom. That's where things got strange. I was washing my hands when one kid exited out of a stall and approached the sink next to mine. I didn't pay him mind at first, but then I noticed something strange.

He wasn't even washing his hands. He was just standing by the sink. I looked at his face, and he was actually looking right at me. I jumped a bit, not realizing he was staring at me as he stood there. His eyes were glazed over, just like the Lunch Lady's eyes earlier. They were in that same googly position, too.

"Hello, v nice day, yes?" the kid asked me.

"Uh..." I couldn't take my eyes off his blank facial expression.

"Can't wait for good eats tomorrow!" the kid told me. "Bye bye!"

The kid stood there for another minute staring at me before he left. I tried to process what just happened. Before I could ponder for any longer, the bell rang, signifying I was late for class.

"Shit!" I yelled as I ran out of the bathroom and to my last class. When I got to my classroom and opened the door, I stopped dead in my tracks. As I looked out at my class, everyone had that same, glazed over, googly eyed look.

"V good day we have, Dennis" they all said in unison.

I felt like I was in some kind of sick dream. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head before looking over at the teacher. The teacher had the same look as the students.

"Please, Dennis, down sit. Get v comfy!" the teacher told me.

I decided to just listen, for now. I took my seat, slowly and uncomfortably. I felt someone tap my shoulder. I jumped before looking to see who it was. It was Kev. I forgot he was in my last class.

"What happened to everyone?" he whispered the question to me.

"I don't know! I'm scared!" I admitted to him through a whisper.

"Same! Everyone's acting so weird!" he told me.

The teacher tapped a ruler against the desk.

"Pay close attent! Class!" the teacher instructed us.

Not only were the googly eyes off putting, but the broken English they were speaking was also very off putting.

"V important! Eat next meal!" the teacher told us.

"Yes!" the class responded in unison. "V good meal!"

"Yes!" the teacher replied before putting chalk up to the board. She began to draw a line on the board before slowly bringing it around in a circle. She did this for several minutes, just going over the same circle over and over again. She began to move her hand faster and faster in a circular motion, continuing to go over the circle until her chalk broke. She chucked the chalk across the room and hit some random kid in the head before turning around and slamming her head on the chalkboard.

Kev and I were freaking out. We started to stay "STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO HURT YOURSELF!". The kids looked over at us angrily and tried to shush us.

"Be quiet! Pay attent!" one of the kids told us.

"Are you crazy? She's going to hurt herself!" I screeched.

I just got shushed again by the other kids. Finally, the teacher fell over, completely unconscious. I immediately got up and went over to the intercom button that contacts the main office built into the front of the room.

I pressed the button. "Please send help to this classroom! Our teacher knocked herself out! Help!" I pleaded. I waited for a response. Kev went over to the teacher to try to move her over to a more comfortable spot. He sat her up against a wall before sitting by her.

"Is she still alive?" I asked. Kev checked her pulse before nodding. That was a relief. The rest of the class looked straight ahead, ignoring everything that was happening.  
Finally, someone from the main office came over the in class intercom. "Help on way" I heard the front office woman say. My heart sank. The voice had the same broken English everyone else was speaking.

I turned to Kev. "Kev, we gotta get out of here! Something is wrong with our school!" I told him.

Kev nodded and got up. "Yeah, man, let's go!"

We went over toward the door, but there was someone at the door already. It was one of the lunch ladies. _She was holding a large pot filled with slop._

**"Nourishment, need you!"**


	3. Chapter 3

"We've been slaves to convenience for so long that our taste in quality has reached an all time low." Billy stated, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading. Steve, Gus, and Uncle Grandpa stood there rubbing their chins.

"Is that really what happened?" Steve asked.

"Probably. I have no idea. That's as much sense I can make out of the stories you've been telling me." Billy replied.

"Billy! There's gotta be more to it than that!" Uncle Grandpa suggested.

"Perhaps there is, but with the stories you've told me there's little information I can really take out of it..." he tapped his chin. "Though, you did say both the manager of the ice cream shop and taco store had a blank, googly expression on their face and spoke in broken English?" Billy asked.

Steve and Gus nodded.

Billy tapped his chin in response. "This sounds familiar, but I need a bit of time before I can be certain." He closed the book he was reading and went over to the large book case on the other side of the room. He scanned the book case until he found the book he needed. "Aha!" he reached for the book and went back over to the couch.

The others waited anxiously for Billy to do a bit of research and help them figure out what was going on. 

* * *

The Lunch Lady took a big glob of slop from the pot onto a ladle and brought it over to our faces.

"Eat! V good! Trust!" the Lunch Lady told us.

Kev and I held our hands over our mouths and backed away.

"Trust!" the Lunch Lady insisted as she continued to come at us with the gory guck.  
Soon, Kev and I were backed to the other side of the room. The other students began to chant "Eat!" at us. I searched around for a weapon or anything that could help me get out of this mess. Kev, fortunately, was quicker at finding a solution than I was. He took the heavy nameplate on the teacher's desk and used it to smack the pot of slop onto the floor. Kev then shoved the Lunch Lady aside and grabbed my arm. We took off running out of the classroom. I heard the Lunch Lady yell. "Them Get!"

Suddenly, all the other students in the classroom with us began to follow us, arms out-stretched, chanting "EAT" over and over again.

"They're after us!" Kev screeched as he tried to run a bit faster. I tried to run as fast as my short legs could take me. That was always the disadvantage of being short, having to put more effort into running to try and catch up with people who are taller.

I saw Nac, Remo, and Ned running down the hall as well.

"You too?" I asked.

"They're trying to force us to eat that nasty food!" Remo shouted to me.

"We have to hide! I can't run much longer!" Nac complained, seemingly ready to cry.

"I'll drive us out of here! We just gotta get to my car!" Kev told us.

We nodded and followed Kev to his car. We burst through the doors of the school, the crazed students with googly eyes chasing after us like ravenous zombies. Kev reached into his pockets and pulled out his keys. He clicked the unlock button a bunch of times as we approached the car. Immediately, we swung the doors open and piled inside. We shut the doors and didn't even bother to put on seat belts.

"GO GO GO!" I shouted at Kev as he immediately started his car up and began to back out of the parking lot as quickly as he could. We screamed as some of the students began to fling themselves at the car, landing on the windows or the hood or on top of the trunk.  
They continued to chant "EAT" as they did so. We all agreed that Kev had no choice but to move forward and plow into the ones that were in the way. We all felt terrible, considering these were former classmates, but there was nothing else we could do. We only hoped they weren't seriously injured. Kev was driving as fast as he could away from the school.

"Where should we go?" Nac asked.

"Let's go to my house!" Kev suggested. "No one's home and we'll be able to recollect our thoughts and figure out what we should do next."

We all agreed, so Kev brought us to his house. Once there, we immediately ran inside and locked the door. We weren't sure if this food problem was affecting just the school or the entire city, but we took precautionary measures to be safe. Kev leaned against the door and slid down to the ground. We were all silent for a few moments, trying to process what the hell was going on.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Ned asked.

"Everyone's acting like some crazy mindless zombies!" Remo said.

"Instead of wanting to eat us, they want us to eat their food!" Nac said.

"Do you think maybe there's something in the food that's making them act that way?" Kev asked.

"There's no other possibility. It has to be that abomination they're trying to pass off as food!' I said. "After they ate it, they all became like that! Googly eyed, dazed out look, broken speech patterns! It has to be that food!"

"I wonder if they're saying anything about it on the news" Remo tapped his chin. "Kev, turn on the news!"

Kev nodded before getting up to get his TV remote. He clicked the TV on and put changed the station to the news channel. What we saw next horrified us. _"Hello Good Afternoon Good Evening it is I Sasha the news reporter! Yes! I have come to bring v good news!"_

The screen next to her showed packages filled with not only the bloody meat and pink bits, but also what looked like dog poop, pus, intestines, hearts, eyes, and fish heads all in different packaging. _"V healthy V good new food for us! V nice! Thank! Gregory the newsman, you to the is back!"_

The newsman Gregory took over the screen. He had the juice from the bloody meat all over his face and shirt. _"Ah, thank Sasha the news reporter! Now, lets talk v good food..._

Kev shut the TV off. We were all mortified. _It's not just a problem in our school..._


	4. Chapter 4

Pizza Steve, Mr. Gus, and Uncle Grandpa were all waiting anxiously in the kitchen for Billy Baggins to come back and give them an answer about the strange events that had happened. After what seemed like an eternity, the pale-pink haired walked into the kitchen holding the book in his hands. Everyone scooted to the edge of their seats to hear what he had to say.

"Did you find anything, Billy?" Uncle Grandpa asked him.

Billy nodded. "I have a lead..."

"Who is it then?" Pizza Steve asked impatiently.

"The question isn't exactly who." Billy corrected him. "However, if I am to verify that I am correct, I need you to turn the television on to the news station."

Everyone tilted their heads at Billy.

"Why would you need the news station on?" Pizza Steve asked.

"Just do it." Billy ignored his question, demanding they fulfill his request.

Mr. Gus nodded before going over to the TV and turning it on. Uncle Grandpa picked up the remote and turned it to the news channel.

The news channel had a person with blood all over their mouth and shirt talking. It looked like he was going over the weather, as there was a weather map behind him. However, what he was talking about was not weather related. _"Ah yes, and tomorrow's special wil good Red Slop dish. V healthy and V good! Fun for all fam! Delicious flave! Trust!"_

Billy let out a sigh. "Yep, just as I suspected."

"Why are they talking like that?" Mr. Gus asked.

"Hell, is this guy aware of all the blood on his shirt?" Pizza Steve had his sunglasses lowered as he stared on with wide eyes at the TV. He suddenly let out a gasp and quickly pointed at the TV, letting his sunglasses fall off his face and onto the floor.

On the TV, the guy who was talking about the weather started to cough. He was coughing up more blood. He continued to cough for a moment before going into a gagging fit. He paused briefly before going back into it again. On his eighth heave, a large and pink organic looking sac started to come out of his mouth.

Steve let out a loud scream as this happened. Uncle Grandpa was covering his eyes and Mr. Gus stood there with his mouth agape. Billy stood there and nodded.

"Yep... it really is just what I suspected..."

Steve immediately grabbed Billy's shirt and started to shake him. "What is it?! What's going on?!" he rattled off the questions frantically.

Uncle Grandpa let out a loud yelp and everyone turned their attention to the TV. The weatherman was now beating his head against the weather screen as he kept on repeating "I'm okay". He hit his head a bunch of times before turning around. His forehead was bleeding as he stared on with googly, glazed over eyes. He brought his face as close to the camera as possible. _"EAT!"_

He then finally dropped to the ground and the TV let out a loud ring as the "No Signal" sign showed up.

Steve dropped to the floor and curled up into the fetal position as he began to tug on his hair. "This is not happening!"

"Calm down, Steve! We're going to get to the bottom of this" Mr. Gus reassured him.  
"Are you kidding me? How can I be calm? Some guy just vomited a giant sac and beat himself to the point of bleeding on live television! That is insane, man!" Steve was really distressed from all the events.

"Well, Billy seems to know what's going on..." Uncle Grandpa turned to him.  
"Eh, I don't exactly know for sure but I have a good idea..." Billy began. "It's a bit strange, though, so be prepared..."

"It's grabbing a hold of everyone!" I said mortified after the scene I just witnessed on the news channel.

"I have to make sure Austin is okay!" she quickly dialed on her cellphone and put it on speaker. After a ring, Austin picked up.

"H-Hello?" Austin seemed frightened.

"Austin! It's me, Nac!" Nac tried to reassure him.

"Oh thank goodness! I was getting worried after what I saw on TV!" he replied in relief.  
"So you know about it too?" she asked.

"The people acting strange? Yeah! What's going on?" he asked.

"It's in the food people are eating! That nasty slop! They're serving it in the schools!" Nac told him.

"Oh no! I hope my parents are okay! I haven't heard from them since this morning. I stayed home sick because I had a terrible headache when I woke up this morning. I'm fine now, though." he told us.

"Is there any way you can make it to Kev's house?" she asked.

"Kev? Why Kev?" he asked.

"Because we're all here. Me, Kev, Dennis, Ned, and Remo are the only ones who didn't eat the food. We're trying to hide from the people who did eat the food! They're trying to get us to eat that nasty slop." Nac explained.

"Oh boy! I never went out when my parents weren't home before! I can try." he admitted. "I'll text you my progress on the way to Kev's house!"

"Alright. See you soon, Austin! Stay safe!" Nac told him.

"Alright! Bye Nac!" he said before hanging up.

I paced back and forth around the room, trying to think of what to do. Everyone else was silent. Finally, Kev spoke up.

"Do you guys remember who was absent today?" he asked, brushing back his black hair behind his ear.

"Adam was absent today" Remo told us.

"So was Akria!" Ned added.

"I remember Melvin was absent today too" I recalled.

Kev cringed. "I don't want to call Melvin. I hate that kid."

"We need all the help we can get, though" I said. "Even if he is a spoiled brat, we'll do better in numbers."

"Nah, I'm with Kev. He'll only slow us down with his lame attitude!" Remo replied.

"How about that Izzie chick, was she absent today?" Nac asked.

"I don't know! She's practically invisible and rarely ever talks!" Ned responded with a shrug.

"Let's call Adam first! Who has his number?" I asked.

"I do!" Nac said as she immediately dialed him on her cellphone.

She put it on speaker and waited for him to respond. After it rung a few times, it went right to his voicemail. As I was about to suggest calling Akira, Nac dialed his number again.

"He'll pick up, he's probably absorbed in a video game. If we keep calling he'll pick up" she told us.

"What if they got him?" Ned suggested with a worried voice.

Nac shook her head as she put her cellphone on speaker again. The phone rung a few times before Adam answered.

"What?" he asked, a bit annoyed.

"Adam! This is important!" Nac said into the phone urgently. "Everyone is eating nasty slop food and turning into zombies! We need you to get over to Kev's house as soon as you possibly can!"

"What? Since when was this happening?" he asked.

"Since now! The school was serving the slop and now everyone is crazy!" Nac explained.  
"Woah! I missed alot! I faked being sick today so I could beat this new game I got yesterday!" he said. "I'm almost done beating it, but this sounds pretty urgent. I'll save my progress and be there ASAP" he told us.

"Before you go, call your girlfriend and make sure she's okay!" Nac said with a teasing tone.

"Huh? What girlfriend?" he asked her.

"You know, the skinny crazy girl who's obsessed with being a surgeon" she laughed.  
"Ugh! She's not my girlfriend! I don't even have a crush on her we're just friends!" he insisted angrily.

"Yeah, that's why you always wanna be her lab partner!" she giggled.

"Because working with her is a 100% guaranteed A+! Anyways, I'll call her and invite her to Kev's house if that's what you want." he sighed.

"Yeah, we need her science brain!" she told him. "Bye!"

"Bye" he hung up.

Before Nac put down her cell phone. It gave a loud "ding". She pressed a few buttons before giggling.

"Austin fell into a pile of bushes because he heard a noise that scared him. The noise turned out to be a squirrel! That boy is too silly!" she laughed.

"Alright, so Austin, Adam, and potentially Izzie will be arriving soon. How about Akira?" I asked. "Does anyone have Akira's number?"

"I don't..." Nac responded.

Everyone else shook their heads too.

"How about Melvin?" I asked.

"Nobody likes Melvin!" Kev gave a frustrated sigh.

Nac moved her thumbs quickly as she typed on her cell phone.

"I'm asking Austin if he has Akira's number. I'm pretty sure he does." she told us.  
We anxiously waited for an answer from Austin. Finally Nac's cell phone made a loud ding. She took a look at it before dialing something onto the phone and touching the speaker button. The phone rang a few times before we heard a Japanese accented voice answer the phone.

"Hello?" Akira answered.

"Yo Akira, this is Nac! I'm Austin's friend." Nac introduced herself.

"Oh hello! Uh... how did you get my number?" he asked.

"Austin gave it to me. I apologize for the strange call, but this is important." she told him.

"Is it about the crazy people on the TV?" he asked.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I just had a feeling, it's all over the news! Literally!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah! Do you know who Kev is and where he lives?" she asked.

"I know who Kev is but I do not know where he lives." Akira told us.

"We need you to get down to Kev's house as soon as possible! I'll give the phone to Kev so he can tell you his address." Nac said before handing the phone over to Kev.

"Hello Kev!" Akira greeted, sounding a bit nervous. Perhaps Kev intimidated him? Kev did look pretty intimidating. He acted intimidating too, but Kev isn't a bad guy. He's actually pretty cool once you get to know him.

Kev didn't bother returning the greeting. He just gave him his address and told him to get there soon. Akira agreed and hung up. Kev handed the phone back to Nac.

"Now all we have to do is wait." I said.

"Should we watch the news in the mean time?" Ned asked.

"I don't wanna see those crazy people!" Remo cringed.

Suddenly, we heard loud banging on Kev's back door. We all jumped. The banging was frantic.

_Did they find us?_


	5. Chapter 5

"Wait, so you're saying this slop junk is a form of mind control?" Pizza Steve asked Billy, who nodded in response.

"Indeed, that slop is a form of mind control. This form of mind control is mostly used by aliens, but I can not say what the exact source of this epidemic really is without further investigation." Billy explained, rubbing his chin.

"Mind control? Why do they want to do that?" asked Mr. Gus.

"For a variety of reasons. They could be trying to simply invade our planet, or they could be trying to repopulate their own race that is dying off on their own planet. The second possibility would assume this alien race works in a parasitic kind of way. There could be a variety of possibilities, but unless I am able to investigate this further I cannot say for sure." Billy explained again, passively insisting they ask him about investigation.

"Nevermind why they're doing it! We need to stop them!" insisted Uncle Grandpa.

"Yeah, but if we don't know more about what we're dealing with, we could get hurt or worse!" Billy warned.

"Yeah, I agree. Perhaps getting more information on this epidemic would serve useful to us..." Mr. Gus rubbed his chin.

"That's what I'm saying! So who's going to join me on the investigation?" Billy asked with a wide grin.

Uncle Grandpa jumped up excitedly. "If you're going, we're all going!"

Pizza Steve shook his head. "Nuh-uh! No way!"

"Pizza Steve!" Uncle Grandpa had a scolding tone as he looked at Steve and crossed his arms.

"Alright... fine!" Pizza Steve sighed. "Only because I want my Triple Chocolate back!"

"Great! Let's find their nest!" Billy started to skip to the RV's cockpit.

"Alright!" Uncle Grandpa followed after him.

"But how are we going to find it?" Mr. Gus asked.

"Follow my lead!" Billy sat in the pilot's chair as Uncle Grandpa sat in the co-pilot's chair. 

* * *

We all huddled together, staring at the back door. The pounding was loud and frantic.

"W-What are we going to do?" Ned stammered.

Just then, we heard a voice.

"Please let me in! Hurry!" the voice said at the other end of the door.

"AUSTIN!" Nac shouted as she ran for the door, but Kev stopped her.

"Woah hey! Don't open that door! What if those crazy people are behind him trying to get in?" Kev reasoned with Nac.

"Well then we need to save him!" Nac tore away from Kev and bolted to the door.

Kev tried to stop her but it was too late. Nac swung the door open and revealed Austin. Immediately, Austin ran inside and slammed the door.

"THEY'RE AFTER ME! THE CRAZY PEOPLE!" Austin screeched.

"You mean they're comin' for us?!" Remo lowered his sunglasses to reveal wide eyes.

"They were chasing me! They were telling me to wait up!" Austin breathed heavily, clearly panicking.

"It's okay you're safe with us now!" Nac reassured him as she put her arm around him to try and comfort him.

Suddenly, a loud knock was heard on the back door.

"IT'S THEM!" Austin shrieked as he fell to the floor and began to crawl away.

"Hey! It's Akira! I have Adam and Izzie with me" we heard the voice on the other side of the door say.

"How do you know it's really them?" Austin questioned.

"Yeah!" Ned agreed.

Nac sighed and opened the door for Akira. "They would be speaking strangely if they were crazy"

Akira walked in with Adam and Izzie. Nac immediately shut the door and locked it.

"We're all here! Now what?" Adam shrugged as he leaned against the wall.

"Well now that we have Miss Aspiring-Surgeon here we can really determine what to do!" Nac stated triumphantly.

"Excuse me?" Izzie raised her eyebrow.

"You're the smart one! Lay on some knowledge for us! What's causing those crazy people to be crazy?" Nac asked.

Izzie laughed. "You mean, you think I can just tell you without conducting a study on it first?"  
"What do you mean?" Nac seemed dumbfounded.

"It means I have no idea what's going on unless someone gets me one of those crazy people to examine!" Izzie cackled.

Everyone gasped.

"Dude! Sick!" Kev stuck out his tongue.

"Or you could get me a sample of that nasty food" Izzie shrugged. "If you want me to figure out what's going on I need a specimen to study from"

"Well there's no way we're going back out there!" I told her, crossing my arms.

"Then we'll never know. We'll just hide out here and wait until they find us and force feed us that shit on a stick." Izzie giggled.

Austin shook his head. "We just got here! I don't want to risk my life again!"

"I'm with Austin. I nearly wrecked my stepdad's car trying to get us here." Kev sighed.

"As long as we stick together, we can stay safe!" Akira reassured everyone.

"Fine by me, but we'll never know what's going on" Izzie told us.

"Whatever!" Kev rolled his eyes and sat on the chair, brushing his hair behind his ear.

"Okay, so now that we're all here, we should discuss guarding the house and food rations" Remo suggested. "Because we're not going to be safe like this for too long! We should board up the windows."

I nodded. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea"

Just as we were about to discuss in further detail, suddenly we heard a light knock on the front door.

"Keeevvvviiiinnnn" the voice on the other end called out in a slow, long, drawn out voice. Something about the tone was unnerving.

"Pops?" Kev got up an faced the front door.

"Keeeeevvviiiiiinnnnn" the voice dragged out their words again.

Kev was about to open the door, but hesitated. After a long pause, Kev spoke up. "Don't you have a key, Pops?"

There was silence at the other end of the door, but you could still hear a faint tapping on the door like as if the person on the other end were scratching at the door.

"Pops?" Kev called out.

"I don't think that's your step dad, Kev" Remo shook his head.

Kev took a peek through the peep hole in the door. Kev immediately gasped and backed away from the door. He fell to the floor and immediately began to scoot back as he covered his mouth with his hands. He began to shake his head. "No! No no no!"

"He ate the slop, didn't he?" Ned bit his lip nervously.

Kev nodded and sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest. "My step-dad and I don't get along very well, but I still care about him. It's hard to see him like this..."

We stood in silence for another moment before Kev's step-father began to bang wildly on the door. We all let out a loud, high-pitched yelp.

"V GOOD BREAKFAST! FOLLOWED BY A V GOOD LUNCH! FOLLOWED BY A V GOOD DINNER! CAN'T FORGET A V GOOD DESSERT!" he began to chant as he continued banging against the door.

The banging continued for several more seconds before we heard him gag and heave, followed by a sickening wet sound hitting the front door step. We then heard a loud thud before everything went silent.

_What in the world just happened to Kev's step-father?_


End file.
